


Mistakes

by cinnamonears



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Other, look this was inspired by something else, of course, the death of the Potters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 00:09:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6830941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamonears/pseuds/cinnamonears
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because Sirius got to them first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistakes

James calls one night while Sirius is roaring over the coast. He parks his bike on the sand, letting the dust fly up everywhere and feeling smug about the spells cast on the machine that will ensure no granules in the workings. It’s very impressive, and it’s the first thing he tells James when he pulls out their mirror.

He laughs, because James always laughs with Sirius. “Hey, Lils is making beef stew. I know it’s your favorite. You should come over.” Sirius makes a disgruntled face. “Oh, come on. We’ll put the cat out, though I really think you should get over that silly rivalry.”

Sirius cracks a grin. “You never pet me like that anymore, Potter, it hurts me inside.” There is more laughter, before the cries of a baby boy interrupt. “Go see to Harry. I’ll try to come by later tonight, after I check on our favorite rat.”

The mirrors go into bags, and Sirius revs up his motorcycle again.

It doesn’t take long to get to Pettigrew’s; it’s the benefit of having a magical bike and a heavy foot. But the place is hauntingly dark, and when he lets himself in, silence stretches throughout.

He’s out the door in seconds, and if he’d gotten to Peter’s home quickly, it was nothing compared to the amount of time before he was in the air over the Potter’s. There’s no Dark Mark, and his heart leaps with hope, with the possibility that all of his thoughts over the countryside were nothing more than dark fears.

Lily has always turned on the kitchen light when she hears him coming, but he ignores that there is no warm yellow glow.

Then he’s on the ground and the house is blown apart and he’s got enough sense to have his wand out, but he’s running forward hoping, hoping, desperate, they were part of the Order, they were strong, he had seen James battle four Death Eaters at once at come out with barely a scratch, surely-

But no, there he is, and Sirius spots his tousled hair first, dark as it is in the night and against the carpet. He drops his wand, and the only thing he can do is drop to his knees. There is no mistake of what has happened, but he jerks his wand back up and places it against James’s neck, hoping for a pulse, for a twitch or a stir, anything, and this is rewarded with nothing, just an indention in pale skin.

“What do I do, James?” The words left his lips, more furious than intended and no one around to hear them anyway. “What do I bloody do now, you fucking git, we were supposed to go together or not at all or-“ His mourning is cut short by a baby’s howl, and Sirius drags his sleeve across his face to mop away tears before he’s scrambling on his feet, headed towards the familiar noise.

He tries not to look at Lily’s body. (Lily. Lily who scolded, Lily who cared, Lily who loved, Lily who was always there for them, always there for him even when she rolled her eyes, eyes that wouldn’t roll again now.) Sirius steps carefully over her, reaching for Harry, reaching for all that was left of his best friend in the world, tousled hair and all. There was a gash bleeding on the tyke’s head, but he immediately quieted in Sirius’s arms (James would’ve laughed, like he always did whenever Harry was comforted by the pureblood’s presence, “he clearly doesn’t know you yet”) and so Sirius set about dabbing at it with his sleeve, cleaning the remnants of what he knew would be a scar.

Now that someone was holding him, Harry has fallen asleep. Sirius’s mind offers a memory, his own voice, insisting to James and Dumbledore that Peter should be it, Peter would be better, because surely no one would expect someone so weak-minded, and Sirius knows that he would rather be dead now, dead and the Potters safe, as James had said he would be should he have taken the role.

He is already thinking of tracking spells when Hagrid arrives.


End file.
